Red Snow
by SilentWolf76
Summary: When Yato and Yukine have a fight, Yukine storms off into a forest. He meets someone there who's itching for some revenge. Will Yato save him, or leave him at the enemy's mercy?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know I should be focusing on my other stories, but this came into my mind at like, 3am, and I've actually remembered it so far!**

 **Also, I'm not going to be easy on Yukine in this. He's going to SUFFER. Because…I'm me, I guess.**

 **Updates will probably be slow. Just saying.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami**

* * *

The snow fell heavily one cold, winter's morning. Daikoku was cooking breakfast, while Kofuku was eating an apple. Yato was daydreaming about having fame, and Yukine was staring off into space.

It was fairly quiet, until Yato's phone went off. He leapt up, took his phone out and said cheerfully, "Hello! Thank you for calling! Fast, affordable and reliable! Delivery god Yato at your service!" Yukine rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, knowing that he no doubt would be dragged on some crazy job.

"Uhuh…okay…sure! I'll be there as soon as I can!" Yato hung up and stared at Yukine. Yukine glared back, knowing what Yato would say next.

"Come o-"

"No."

Yato raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. "No? And why's that?"

Yukine stood up, clenching his fists. "You! It's all you! You're the problem here! You only make people pay _five_ yen! If you increased the price, then you'd be able to get a shrine sooner!"

Yato's eyes narrowed. "My motto includes the word 'affordable'. If I higher the price, what if people can't afford it?"

"Then higher it to only fifty yen! Or a hundred! Either way, five yen isn't enough for us. That's why we pretty much _live_ at Kofuku's – because _you_ can't buy a proper home!" Yukine snapped.

"Yukine, I think that was too fa-" Kofuku warned but was interrupted by Yato.

"No, it's fine. He knew what he was getting himself into when he started this argument." The former god of calamity took a step towards his regalia. "You turn into a _weapon_. I _wield_ the weapon, slay phantoms, cut ties, make ties, do crazy jobs, and actually earn us a _living_ , however small it is. All you do is turn into a weapon when _I_ command you to."

Yukine's eyes widened, before narrowing again. "And where would you be without your 'weapon'? You'd probably be dead, or using that nora-" He stopped himself short as he came to a realisation. Lowering his voice but using an equally cold tone, he asked, "If I never came along, would you be using Nora?"

Yato froze for a minute, before looking at the ground. Eventually, he mumbled, "If I had no other choice and someone's life was in danger, then yes. I would use her for that only, though."

But that was enough to push Yukine over the edge. "I knew it!" He pointed an accusing finger at Yato with a raised voice. "I get it, don't worry." He continued in a quieter tone. "She's stronger than me, and she'll carry out your every wish with no hesitation. But instead you have to suffer _me_ , who usually argues with you." He turned and walked to the door, head down and blonde hair covering his eyes.

"Yukine, wait!" Kofuku started to walk towards him, but Yato held her back.

"Yato, what are you-"

"He needs to be alone for a while. He'll come back when he's calmed down. I'll go to the job without him." Yato said emotionlessly. All Kofuku could do was watch the regalia leave.

* * *

Half an hour later, Hiyori decided to visit them. She hadn't seen them all day, and she wanted to pass on some more of her old books to Yukine. When she walked in, she saw Kofuku and Daikoku eating breakfast, but no Yukine or Yato.

"Hi, Kofuku! Hi, Daikoku!" After noticing Kofuku's silence, she asked, "Hey, what's wrong? And where's Yato and Yukine? Did they go on a job or something?"

Daikoku glanced at her and sighed, putting his fork down on a half-eaten rasher of bacon. "I wasn't there myself, but I could hear it through the walls. Yato and Yukine had a fight, and Yukine left. Then Yato went to go on a job. Neither of them have come back yet."

Hiyori's eyes widened. "Oh."

A silence passed between the three, each stuck in their own thoughts. But suddenly, the sound of a door opening and slamming shut distracted them. Glancing over her shoulder, Hiyori saw Yato walk in, looking angry. However, he brightened up a bit at seeing Hiyori.

"Hey, Hiyori! What're you doing here?" He asked with a forced smile.

"Yato, I heard what happened. Do you know where Yukine is? I need to give him some old books, if you don't mind." Hiyori explained cautiously.

Yato narrowed his eyes. "I don't know where he is. I can hear some of his thoughts, but not all of them. My guess is that he's nearly out of range for me to hear them or something. I don't know if that's possible, but I don't particularly care at this point. He'll come back when he's ready, and he'll apologize."

Hiyori blinked in surprise at the bitter tone in Yato's voice. "Are you sure he'll come back?"

"Yeah. If he doesn't, then he'll be sleeping outside, and I'm sure he'll hate _that_." He said angrily, before walking past Hiyori and over to the god of poverty and her regalia. He sat down and got himself a plate, before loading it with bacon, sausages and eggs.

Hiyori was torn at the moment. Should she try and calm down Yato, or go search for Yukine? Anything could happen to him out there. She was worried about him. _I don't know what to do. If I go look for Yukine, Yato might get mad at me. But if I stay with Yato, Yukine might feel alone. Which should I do first?_ Lowering her gaze to the floor, Hiyori made up her mind.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yukine walked through a forest, making footprints in the soft snow. Icicles clung to branches, and snowflakes floated down from the sky. There were barely any animals around, so it was fairly peaceful.

But Yukine wasn't peaceful himself.

Kicking up some snow, he cursed Yato in every way he could think of. "Damn him! I'd rather be someone else's regalia than that lousy idiot who only makes people pay _five yen_. Seriously, it's ridiculous!"

Entering a large clearing in the middle of the forest, Yukine was surprised to see someone sat on a stump, their chin resting on both hands. _Why does that position look familiar…?_ Yukine thought hard to think of where he'd seen it before.

Shrugging, he walked forward, but froze as he saw the person's face.

"Ah, Yukine, I was hoping you'd show up."

No…it couldn't be…

"Did you know that if you never came along, Yato would use _me_ instead of _you_?"

What was _she_ doing here?

"So I realised, I could always…get rid of you."

What is she up to?

"So I think it's time for some… _revenge_."

Nora.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami**

* * *

Yukine stared in shock at Nora's words. _Revenge? Get rid of me?_

"I-I don't understand..." He silently cursed the stutter in his words. He didn't even want to say that aloud anyway!

Nora smirked. "You will soon." She glanced to her left. "You will soon." She repeated in a distant voice, as if distracted by something.

Suddenly, she jerked her head back to glare at Yukine. "You're far enough away from Yato so that he won't react as much."

Yukine narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Won't react to wha-" He was cut off as pain exploded in his right ankle.

Gritting his teeth to stop any sounds of pain escaping him, the boy glanced down to see a phantom that looked fairly like a rabbit, sinking its sharp fangs into his ankle. It was a dark purple colour, with yellow eyes and red fangs – although they were probably red with his blood. It was bigger than a normal rabbit, and instead of a fluffy, pom-pom-like tail, it had a short, wiry tail – similar to a rat's.

Shaking his ankle, Yukine tried to get rid of the phantom, but it clung on, seeming to be enjoying this.

 _The damn thing's drawing blood,_ Yukine thought angrily, _why won't it let go? What does it have against me-_

His eyes widened as he caught sight of a mask on the top of its head, with an eye on it. _How come I didn't see that before?! Nora must be commanding it!_

As the pain in his ankle suddenly escalated, the blonde Regalia grew desperate. He noticed a purple tint to the skin round his ankle, and knew he was blighted. If anyone got bit in the ankle it hurt, but adding a blight to the mix made it a lot worse. But it was still bearable.

Angered at getting a blight, he raised two fingers on his right hand to the space above his left shoulder. Then he swept it diagonally down and to the right, shouting "Border!" at the same time. Immediately, a transparent, pale blue line flashed down by his ankle, sending the phantom flying backwards.

Furious, the phantom rabbit tried to get back to him, but couldn't as his border was too strong for it.

Nora smiled, watching the whole thing. "Impressive as usual, Yukine-kun~"

Yukine glared at her, disturbed by her sudden change in voice. It sounded dangerous, but at the same time innocent. He stopped his border and raised an eyebrow at her. "Was that your little plan, Nora? To have a tiny phantom bite me? Is that it? That's not very impressive," he smirked as he added, "as usual, Nora-kun~"

Nora's smile vanished as Yukine imitated her. She replied in an icy tone, "A one-step plan is boring. I prefer clever ones that have several steps. You should _know_ this, Yukine. Silly boy. Punishment time for you silliness!"

Just as Yukine was about to ask her what the hell that meant, he felt another, bigger pair of fangs sink into his flesh, but this time in his left hand. Involuntarily, a small gasp escaped him, but he quickly covered it with a cough.

Lowering his gaze to his left wrist, he saw a light green phantom clinging to his wrist, vibrant blue eyes locking with his amber ones. It grinned maliciously through his wrist, and he growled at it. If he had to suggest what creature it looked like, he would have said slug. It sort of looked like a giant slug, to put it simply.

Using another border, Yukine sent the slug-like phantom backwards and rubbed his injured hand. There was a small blight, but not as big as the one on his ankle.

"Does it hurt? Go on, tell me." Nora drifted close to Yukine.

"It doesn't hurt at all." He replied confidently, although he didn't feel it.

Raising an eyebrow, Nora reached out and poked his left wrist hard. He winced, and she smiled.

"You know, in your position, you shouldn't lie."

"My...position? Please, do you think a couple scratches put me at a disadvantage? If you think that, then _you're_ the one at a disadvantage."

Nora snorted softly, as if something was funny, before she clicked her fingers. Immediately, five phantoms that resembled wolves appeared, surrounding them both.

She leaped over the phantom behind her, and giggled quietly. She couldn't wait to see the turnout of this round.

"Step three is about to be put in action." She said under her breath, so that Yukine couldn't hear.

Yukine performed a border, keeping three of the phantoms back. He felt like something was wrong, though. _Why would the phantoms surround me if I can just use a border? Wait – I can keep these three back, but what about the other two?!_

Spinning round, a phantom abruptly collided with his chest, sending them both to the ground. As Yukine wrestled with the phantom wolf, trying to get it off him, the other one stepped on his bad ankle and added pressure.

With the sudden rise in the pain already emitting from his ankle, Yukine yelped and let go of the wolf, trying to get to his ankle.

Seeing this as a perfect opportunity, the phantom on top of him bit deep into his right shoulder, its jawline rubbing against his neck.

Gasping in pain, Yukine writhed under the weight of the phantom as he tried to dislodge it.

To make matters worse, because of his distraction, his border disappeared, leaving him at the mercy of all five phantom wolves.

Yukine squeezed his eyes shut, willing the pain to just _stop_. It hurt, and he didn't like it at all. _Where's Yato when I need him? Oh right – we fell out. He wouldn't care what happened to me. Not after all I said to him… What about Hiyori? No, I don't want her to get hurt. No-one's going to come. I'm alone in this. But if I'm going to die, then I might as well bring a couple of these things down with me._

Deciding what to do, Yukine opened his eyes and suddenly shot upwards, startling the phantom and making it loosen its grip on his shoulder. Taking the chance, he cast a border, successfully forcing the phantoms back.

Hissing in pain at using his right arm, he clutched his bleeding shoulder, and took the chance to inspect it.

Deep teeth-marks punctured his fair skin, and the area surrounding it was covered in blood and blight. The entire wound stretched from the tip of his shoulder across to the very base of his neck. Luckily, it didn't go directly into his neck, but it was still a bad wound.

Wincing, Yukine struggled to his feet, ignoring the painful complaints from his right ankle.

Nora waved her hand and the five phantom wolves vanished into thin air.

"Well done, Yukine. You've survived Steps One, Two, and Three. Now for Step Four, all right? Try and survive it if you can. It gets a little…harder. The first three steps were on Easy Level. Step Four goes into Medium Level." She informed casually.

Yukine bristled. "You think this is some sort of game?!"

Nora didn't reply, instead whistling, and a phantom jumped in front of her. It was a fiery orange colour, with bright red eyes and black stripes. It looked like a tiger, actually. Except the fact it had six legs, three tails and two heads.

Surprised, Yukine's border faltered, but he soon collected himself and reinforced it. However, it wasn't as strong as he desired, as the blight on his shoulder was spreading down the arm he was using to sustain the border.

The tiger phantom prowled towards him, growling at the border that stood between it and its prey. Bashing one of its heads against the border, it raised two clawed paws and swiped at the border as well.

Yukine watched its actions with surprise. Usually phantoms wouldn't try to break down the border with physical strength, using their bodies as some sort of battering ram. But that phantom was doing exactly that.

The phantom suddenly stopped and took a few steps backwards, before charging at the border at smashing its body into it. It repeated this process over and over, and Yukine struggled to keep the border up. The blight was getting worse, and soon he wouldn't be able to sustain the barrier between him and the phantom.

Without warning, the blight reached the end of his arm and brought with it a pain so strong that he couldn't keep the border up. He just _couldn't._

Yukine watched as the two-headed phantom stalked towards him, licking its lips. _What to do, what to do…_ the blonde Regalia thought frantically as he glanced around the clearing for anything he could defend himself with. _There's nothing. I'm going to die here. By the hands of Nora. Then Yato'll use her – no! I can't let that happen!_

Determined not to die now, he sprinted towards a nearby tree, and grabbed the trunk. Then he started to climb up the tree, reaching the second lowest branch and crawling onto it.

He cursed as another wave of pain shot through his ankle. Climbing trees did _not_ help it in any way. Well, at least he was above the enemy.

Glancing down, he saw the phantom pacing below angrily. Yukine had formed a plan in his head, but he didn't know if the tiger could climb trees. If it could, then his plan would be useless.

But by the looks of things, it couldn't climb trees, which meant Yukine could go along with his plan.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm ending the chapter here! (Mostly 'cause I cba to write anymore today)**

 **Also, I have no idea what the 'plan' is, so I need a couple of days to actually THINK of something.**

 **And yes, no Yato in this chapter. He'll probably be in the next chapter, but i can't promise it for sure (I can't remember ANYTHING I originally though of).**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I finally thought of Yukine's plan! Well, actually im just making it up as I go along, but they're the same thing, right?**

 **Also, thanks to ANONymous for your comment! You're the first!**

 **On with the chapter~**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami**

* * *

Yato gazed out the window, lost in thought. Yukine didn't know as much as he did about…everything, really. And then he had the nerve to go round complaining about how he ran his business! But the god couldn't supress the feeling of guilt within him. Maybe he _had_ been too rough on the kid. After all, it usually took an hour or so before he'd come back, after having calmed down somewhere else. But he'd been gone for nearly two hours now, and Yato kept getting the feeling that Yukine wasn't alone.

Shrugging, Yato got to his feet and climbed out the window, jumping up to the roof of Kofuku's house. He was surprised to see Hiyori already there.

"Oh, hi Yato." She murmured, although she seemed distracted.

"Hey." He sat down beside her, and a silence descended upon them.

Eventually, Hiyori glanced at him and asked, "Are you worrying about Yukine?"

Yato met her gaze. "Nah, he can handle himself." He returned his gaze to the space in front of him and added, "He's a tough kid."

Hiyori smiled softly at him. Even though he wouldn't admit it, she knew Yato was concerned about the lateness of Yukine's return. She wanted to go look for him, but Yato would only hold her back and say he needed to calm down or something like that.

"If he's not back in, say, half an hour, then we'll go look for him, 'kay?" She suggested slowly, unsure of his reaction.

However, she was surprised when Yato nodded, as if unable to speak. _Strange_ , she thought.

"Yeah, sure," he said, although his voice was quiet. He looked at her with unease in his eyes. "I get the feeling he's not alone, and possibly in danger, but I'm not sure if that's true or not."

Hiyori patted his back comfortingly. "Don't worry; it's like you said. He's a tough kid, and he can handle himself."

Yato nodded, feeling like a weight had been lifted off his chest at telling someone about his bad feeling.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yukine gripped a large branch in his hand, although not large enough that it was too heavy. It was around the length of his weapon form, actually. He kept casting small borders, ignoring the pain it caused on his injured arm. He repeated it over and over at different angles on one end, until it was sharp enough and looked like a rough spear.

When he'd finished this, he clenched the makeshift spear tightly in both hands, and closed his eyes. He searched in his mind's eyes for the light that shone within him; the same light he used to make borderlines.

Taking a deep breath, he focused on this light, gently drawing it out and slowly sending it into the branch. Borderlines are essentially this light made thin and sharp, but strong and effective, like a shield of unbreakable ice. But if he focused on making the light softer, but equally as strong, then he could send it into the branch without causing it to break.

He opened his eyes when he felt enough of his power in the branch that it would be effective against the phantom below him.

"Two heads, three tails, six legs, but only one heart…if you could even say that phantoms _had_ hearts." Yukine mumbled under his breath. "My guess is that where their heart would be is their core. If that's destroyed, the phantom will die. Then again, this might be completely wrong. But it's worth a shot."

Glancing down, he saw the tiger phantom pacing below the tree, tails lashing from side to side.

Taking another deep breath, he dropped down from the branch he was sat on, aiming straight for the phantom. It noticed the movement, and growled. But at the last second, it jumped to the side, just out of reach for Yukine's jump to have any effect.

But the Regalia had predicted as much, and as soon as he landed, he turned on his good heel and shot the branch straight into the phantom's chest.

Caught off guard, it couldn't do much as the light within the branch seeped out, destroying the phantom from the inside out.

With a small _puff_ , the phantom disappeared, dead.

Panting from both exhaustion and pain, Yukine fell unceremoniously to the floor, and gripped his blighted ankle. Climbing a tree was one thing, but jumping _from_ a tree and landing on his feet was a lot more painful.

"Well done, Yukine. Impressive indeed. I definitely wouldn't have thought of that, I have to admit." Nora praised, walking towards him. "I think that deserves a little break, don't you agree? You look like you need it. But only twenty minutes, alright? And you can't leave this clearing." She walked right past him, heading into the trees.

All Yukine could do was sit and try to regain his lost energy.

* * *

~Twenty minutes later~

Yato was getting restless. He kept getting slight, dull pains in various parts of his body, but there was never any injury. It only made the feeling that Yukine was in trouble grow worse. But the pain was very faint, and fairly distant, which meant that Yukine was a fair distance away.

 _Ten more minutes,_ he said to himself, _then I'll go look with Hiyori._

"Just…hang on 'til then, Yukine…" He mumbled under his breath.

"Did you say something, Yato?" Hiyori asked.

He shook his head and forced a smile. "No, nothing at all."

* * *

"Step Five now, Yukine, of my plan. Are you ready for it?" Nora asked innocently, but with a small amount of sadisticness in her voice.

Sighing, Yukine nodded, even though he could do with some holy water, a first aid kit and about three days of rest. _Just get it over with,_ he told himself. _If there was three 'Steps' in 'Easy Level', then hopefully there's only three in 'Medium Level'. I hope there isn't a 'Hard Level'; God knows how I'll survive_ that _._

Getting to his feet, Yukine prepared himself for the next attack.

Nora smiled, knowing plain well that the chances of the blonde boy surviving this round were about fifty-fifty. "Alright then." She clicked her fingers, and six phantoms appeared. They were neon yellow, with red eyes and sharp stingers. They strongly resembled giant wasps.

Nora stepped back, allowing the phantoms to advance.

Yukine prepared to perform a border, but one of the wasps moved with lightning-fast speed. He reflexively jumped back, regretting not preparing another branch-spear. The other one had snapped when the tiger phantom exploded.

He cast a border, and the first wasp recoiled a bit. Satisfied that that would hold them, he decided to count them, just in case.

 _One…two, three…four…fi-_ His thoughts were cut short as he felt something thin and sharp enter his right upper-arm. _A stinger. Damn, one of the wasp-phantoms got past my border._ A cold fire spread through his body, and he gasped in shock and pain.

"Nora! What…the hell…is thi-AH!" He felt another stinger enter his left upper-arm, and he staggered. But neither of the stingers were removed. It was an uncomfortable feeling, to have something in your arm that wasn't normally there. It didn't _belong_ there. It felt like a needle jab, except the needle wasn't removed.

His attention distracted, the border vanished, and the other four wasps buzzed loudly, approaching him.

With both of his arms completely useless, hanging by his sides numbly, Yukine couldn't do much as the numbness slowly spread through the rest of his body. The wasps were too quick to try and avoid, especially with the added weight of the first two by his shoulders.

However, he still struggled, but stopped when he felt yet another stinger enter his left thigh. Gasping in pain, he dropped to the floor, unable to stand up straight (not that he was stood up straight to begin with anyway). Seeing this as a 'golden opportunity', the other three wasp-phantoms flew right to him.

The first one of the three went for his right thigh, while the other two went for his stomach and chest. _No,_ he thought desperately, _don't sting me! Go away! Go! I don't like it, it hurts and it's uncomfortable! Shoo!_

But he watched helplessly as three more stingers entered him, and the pain within his body escalated to an unbearable point.

"Alright, off you go now." With a wave, the wasps disappeared, and Yukine fell onto his stomach, lifting his head up to glare at Nora, who was now approaching him with a wicked smile on her face.

"How does it feel? Does it hurt?" She asked. Yukine wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and let the tempting darkness claim him. But he couldn't. He couldn't give Nora the satisfaction of knowing she'd made him pass out.

She crouched down beside him and said, "I bet it does hurt. Do you want to know what's in your system, Yukine?"

He hated how she used his name. It made him want to hit her even more. "It can't be poison, I know that much. Phantoms don't have poison; only blight."

"Mmm…half right." She hummed. "You see, those stingers originally only contained blight. But I got my hands on some _poison_ ," she added emphasis to the word as if to make sure Yukine didn't forget it, "and decided to run a little… _experiment._ "

"What…sort of…experiment?" He forced out between strained breaths.

"I made the phantoms drink lots of the poison. After all, only gods, alongside Regalias, can kill them, right? I've been dying to see if it worked or not, and it appears it did! If left untreated, you won't last long. Don't worry; I'll make it as painful as possible."

As if her words were a trigger, the pain in Yukine's body suddenly rose so that black spots danced across his vision. _I'm going to pass out in a minute,_ he thought miserably.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yato and Hiyori were dashing through the forest, leaving five minutes earlier than planned because the pain Yato felt got a lot worse.

Yato suddenly gasped and tripped, falling over as he panted, gritting his teeth. Hiyori stopped and hurried back to him.

"Yato! Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.

"We're getting closer…the pain got worse…" he trailed off, struggling to get to his feet. Ignoring the pain racking his body, although it couldn't have been as bad as Yukine's, he declared, "Come on, let's pick up the pace. My body will get used to it soon, and we won't be able to track him using my pain." It was a weird thing to say, but that didn't matter.

Both of them picked up the pace, desperate to reach Yukine and know what was wrong with him.

* * *

Yukine couldn't stay awake any longer. His eyelids were drooping, and the darkness was filling his vision. He gathered his energy to make one final thought before he passed out. He hoped Yato could hear it, wherever he was.

* * *

Yato and Hiyori saw a clearing coming up, and hoped they would find their missing friend there. But just as they were about to enter it, Yato stopped short as he heard a faint voice in his head. He instantly knew who it belonged to, and frantically stopped Hiyori and shushed her. He listened to the voice intently.

 _Ya…to…m'…sorry…it…was…Nor…a…_

* * *

 **A/N: And I'm stopping it here. Cause I'm me. Hooray. Also, it's a long chapter. Words.**

 **The light-into-branch thingy and the poison-plus-blight-in-phantom thingy are both probably so wrong it's funny.**

 **Don't attack me with comments of 'dat so wrong, silly author-chan' or something like that (even though I'm pretty sure** ** _no-one_** **would** ** _ever_** **say** ** _that_** **), just…lightly correct me, yeah? Cheers.**

 **Bye for now~**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks for your reviews they're greatly appreciated!**

 **Now I briefly looked up symptoms for poison, and it was helpful but it was for not-life-threatening and not ultra-deadly poison, so I'll just say that the blight in it is the life-threatening part :P**

 **Anyway, on with the chapter~**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami**

* * *

Yato froze after hearing those words. _Nora – I should have known._

Clenching his fists, the god leaped into the clearing, followed by Hiyori. She gasped at the sight that met their eyes.

There had obviously been a battle, from the lines in the snow and the scuffle of feet on the ground. There were also large claw marks on a tree. The snow was stained red with blood.

But the thing that caught their eyes the most were the two figures in the middle of the clearing. One was standing with a smug expression on her face, and the other was on the ground, unmoving.

"Yuki-" Hiyori started, but was cut off by Yato gently elbowing her in the ribs.

"Go round through the trees to him," he hissed under his breath to her, "make sure Nora doesn't see you." She nodded, and turned round.

"Alright, Yato. I'll leave Nora to you." She declared loud enough so Nora could hear, and walked back into the cover of the trees. _I'm worried about Yato,_ she admitted in her head, _but I'm more worried about Yukine. I've just got to believe in him. After all, he's a god. Nora's not. He can handle her. I hope, anyway._

She walked about twenty metres away from the clearing, before turning to the right and making her way round, making sure to keep a twenty-metre distance between her and the edge of the clearing.

Yato walked a step closer to Nora. "Why'd you do it, Nora? Why'd you hurt my Regalia?" He demanded with a cold voice.

She smiled. "So you'd use me of course, Yato."

"Seriously? You could have _killed_ him!"

"He's already dead."

At this, Yato bristled. "In his past life, yes. In his present life, he may be considered dead, but technically he's not. Yukine died in his first life, but he hasn't died in his second life."

Nora was quiet for a minute, before she replied, "He won't be 'alive' in his 'present life' for long, though."

" _What_?" Yato asked with a dangerous tone.

"He's dying, slowly and painfully."

"How dare you – what did you do to him?!" He yelled.

"Well, let's just say he's got a rather _special_ poison running through his body." She explained vaguely.

"Get it out of his body, then!" Yato was now shaking with rage. "I swear, if Yukine dies because of you...so help me."

Nora was quiet again before she started giggling.

Yato raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"It's just that before, taking people's lives was no big deal for you. In fact, you loved it! I remember the time when you brought severed ears back to Father." She smiled at the memory before continuing, "Yet when it comes to one, small, insignificant life, you go crazy."

 _Small? Insignificant? My Regalia's life is anything but insignificant! Sure, he may not be tall, but he's strong and brave, not to mention intelligent. At times._ Yato thought.

"Yukine's not a small, insignificant life, Nora. He's one of my closest friends. He's like a s- best friend to me." Yato stopped himself saying something private just in time.

"A best friend? So when he dies, what will you do? You know what, don't bother answering." She turned to the side. "I'll give Yukine some time to die, then I'll come back and ask you to use me again. You better have an honest answer by then." With that, she walked into the trees, disappearing from sight.

Yato watched her go, before running over to Yukine. He gently shook the boy's shoulder, but got no response. Hiyori sneaked into the clearing, but relaxed slightly when she saw no Nora.

Hurrying over, she crouched down, noticing a severe blight on one of his legs. It looked like it was coming from his ankle.

"Yato…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"I know." He replied without looking at her. She was surprised to find that there was actually a meaning to her saying his name when she hadn't meant it to mean anything.

Then she thought of something to say to break the uncomfortable silence. "Is it okay to move him?"

After a brief check-over, Yato nodded. "He's covered in blight, but his wounds appear to be only flesh wounds. I don't think there's any broken bones, thank God."

Hiyori went to pick up Yukine, but Yato stopped her.

"I'll carry him."

"A-are you sure?"

"Yeah." Without another word, Yato hoisted Yukine onto his back gently, letting Yukine's arms dangle limply over his shoulders, ignoring the slight blight his shoulders got from the contact with Yukine's blighted arms. Using his arms to keep Yukine on his back, he began the journey back to Kofuku's house with Hiyori in silence.

Hiyori was deep in thought as she walked through the forest. Yukine was hurt, Yato was quiet, and Nora was involved. It wasn't a very good combo. The only sound was the crunching of snow under their feet and Yukine's laboured breathing. She could see his flushed face, coated in a thin layer of sweat, from where she stood without squinting.

 _He's in pretty bad shape,_ she remarked in her head, before clenching her fists. _What the hell did Nora do to him?! Well, whatever she did, she'd going to pay for it._

* * *

~A few minutes later~

Yato breathed a sigh of relief as Kofuku's house finally came into view. The walk here, which in reality only took a few minutes, felt like it took hours.

Not to mention the boy on his back wasn't getting any better. No, he was getting worse. And Yato feared for his life.

But no sooner had they reached the door, when they heard soft groans from Yukine. They soon turned into whines and whimpers, which grew in volume and frequency.

Concerned, Yato set him down on the floor in case his back was hurting the boy, and crouched down beside him.

With a loud cry, Yukine's back arched and his arms and legs jumped and jolted all over the place. Hiyori fell back in shock, before recovering and scrambling over to them.

"Help me hold him down, Hiyori!" Yato yelled, pressing one hand on Yukine's right arm and one on his right leg.

Hiyori copied the god on Yukine's left side. But something was nagging at the back of her mind. What was going on? But she decided not to say anything until it was over. _If_ it ended.

Loud cries of pain tore from Yukine as his body attacked itself, aggravating his untreated wounds. Hiyori was struggling to stay calm on the outside, while on the inside she was panicking. But she had to stay as calm as possible in this situation – however hard it was.

Eventually, after a couple more minutes of Yukine's fit, it finally ended and Yukine went back to the state he was before; ragged, laboured breathing and completely limp.

Breathing heavily, Hiyori released him, Yato doing the same.

"Y-Yato, wh-what was that?" She stuttered, trying to calm down.

He glanced at her, before replying quietly, "A tonic-clonic seizure."

Her eyes widened at this. Since both her parents were doctors, she'd been told once about types of seizures. At the time, she'd listened but had wondered why she would need to know it. Turns out, she was thankful for that little speech then.

She knew that a tonic-clonic seizure was where the patient loses consciousness (even though Yukine was already unconscious) and their muscles stiffen, with jerking movements. They usually lasted only a couple minutes, but it was painful for the victim. Sometimes, when it was over, the victim would claim that their head or stomach hurt, or their muscles ached. Even worse, the victim was never of what was happening during the seizure. It was quite scary to watch, Hiyori had to admit. Other after-effects of a tonic-clonic seizure included headache, confusion and sleep.

Hiyori sighed as she just finished refreshing her mind on the type of seizure they just witnessed.

Shakily, she asked, "I-is he going t-to be alright?"

Yato looked down at the ground before answering her question. What could he say? If he said no, it would dampen both their spirits and Hiyori might think he was giving up on Yukine. But if he said yes, would it be classed as lying? He had no idea what to say, as the god didn't know if either 'yes' or 'no' was the correct answer.

Finally, he said, "I honestly don't know, Hiyori. Let's just get him inside, alright?" His voice was soft and quiet, and he didn't bother to hide his concern, although he _did_ hide his fear.

At that moment, Daikoku slid open the door, and commented, "What the hell is going on? All I can hear is – well, I'm not entirely sure _what_ I heard." But when he saw the situation, he silently stepped to the side, a non-vocal way of saying 'come in'.

Grateful, Yato carried Yukine bridal-style, so he could keep an eye on him while he walked, instead of quick glances over his shoulder. Hiyori followed, and Daikoku brought up the rear, closing the door in the process.

* * *

 **A/N: Probably the worse ending of a chapter ever, but oh well. Thanks for your reviews; you're so kind!**

 **The stuff about seizures I found online, but it might not be 100% reliable, so if there is anything incorrect about it, feel free to correct me.**

 **Also, I'll give you guys a tip: don't listen to really sad, meaningful music on** ** _loop_** **while reading a very sad fanfiction, usually involving the character you absolutely love heroically sacrificing them and then dying with some deep, lovely words to their closest friends, and then passing on WITH A SMILE ON THEIR FACE. Seriously, I did this and I cried for like, ten minutes straight. Thank God it was late at night, otherwise my sister would think I was crazy.**

 **Anyway, so long for now~**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I know, I know, this is late. In my defence, the Olympics were on and I managed to get myself obsessed with them (go, countries!). I was rooting for literally every country thanks to the anime Hetalia.**

 **Anyway, thanks for your reviews, and I have to agree with Ameyo Yume, the last chapter did turn out slightly sadistic. Juuuuuust a bit.**

 **So, on with the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami**

* * *

Hiyori felt completely useless at the present time. Daikoku and Yato were busy taking care of Yukine, and Kofuku was downstairs, eating an apple while Hiyori sat next to her in silence.

She was worrying about many things. Nora – would she come back? Yukine – will he survive this? And Yato – will he go for revenge? She was desperate to know these things, but she knew none of them could be answered at the moment.

Kofuku seemed to notice Hiyori's worrying, and leant over to pat her on the back. "Don't worry, Hiyori! I'm sure he'll be fine!" She reassured, and Hiyori locked eyes with her.

"Who? Yato or Yukine? Both? Or neither? What if they-" Hiyori began, but was cut off by Kofuku waving her arms in the air for Hiyori to shush.

When she'd finished waving her arms round, Kofuku put a hand on Hiyori's shoulder and said in a serious voice, "They've been through worse. Yato may be suffering from emotional stress right now, and he may be itching for revenge, but he won't do it. He's learnt that friends and family come before revenge, or other things like that. Trust me on this." Then she released Hiyori's shoulder and looked out the open door. "Yato will stay with Yukine until he's all better."

Hiyori was speechless after that. _Kofuku really has a way with words at times, huh._ She thought with a small smile.

Then the brunette nodded. "Thanks, Kofuku."

Kofuku hummed in response, before changing the topic to something completely random.

* * *

Meanwhile, Daikoku had just left the room to get some cold water and a cloth. Yato sat by his unconscious Regalia, looking at him with concern. Yukine was getting worse by the minute. He was running a high fever, hence why Daikoku had gone to get cold water and a cloth. His breathing was ragged and shallow, as if he had difficulty breathing.

Whenever Yato felt his pulse, it was at a rapid pace, which wasn't good. They'd tended to his other wounds, using some nearby holy water to cleanse the blight before dressing the injuries. Luckily, his wounds had stopped bleeding, and with no blight now, all they had to do was heal. Easy enough on their own, but with some sort of poison running through Yukine's body, it made it difficult to heal.

Yato's mind was drawn to the words Nora had said to him.

 _"_ _He won't be 'alive' in his 'present life' long, though."_

" _What_?!"

 _"_ _He's dying, slowly and painfully."_

 _"_ _How dare you – what did you do to him?!"_

 _"_ _Well, let's just say he's got a rather_ special _poison running through his body."_

 _Poison, huh?_ Yato thought after his flashback. _Question is, how would I go about curing it?_ Then he glanced out the window, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. _Does Nora have the antidote?_

Then Daikoku came in, carrying a bowl of cold water and a cloth over his shoulder. Yato nodded a greeting to him, and Daikoku grunted quietly in response.

Setting the bowl down, he crouched beside Yukine and held a hand to the boy's forehead. It was burning underneath his hand. Sighing, he set to work, soaking the cloth in the cold water before spreading it over Yukine's forehead.

"You know, Yato," Daikoku began while he worked, "while I was gone, I was thinking."

Yato glanced at him. "Mmm?"

 _He can't even be bothered to ask me with words?! Seriously,_ Daikoku thought angrily, before pushing the anger at the former god of calamity to the back of his mind.

"What if the blight that was on Yukine's wounds went inside his body and merged with the poison?"

Yato perked up, curious. He silently urged Daikoku to continue.

"So, what if we made Yukine drink holy water so it can travel round his system and hopefully get rid of any blight?"

"But won't it just go through his digestive system or something? What if the blight's in his bloodstream?" Yato asked.

"Well," Daikoku began, sitting back as he finished with Yukine temporarily, "When we put some holy water over the blight on his injuries, he flinched, didn't he?" The Regalia allowed Yato a few seconds to remember before continuing, "So I was thinking, if the holy water went _in_ Yukine's wounds, then it would cure that part of his body of the blight, wouldn't it?" Then he hastily added, "Of course, that's if there's any blight in his body at all."

Yato hummed thoughtfully as Daikoku finished his idea. "Nora mentioned a special type of poison in Yukine's body." Yato admitted, not looking forward to Daikoku's explosion reaction. He'd held back this detail, as he didn't want everyone to panic and run round like headless chickens (of course, this was just his prediction of what would happen). But now he had no choice but to tell Daikoku.

Grabbing him by the collar, Daikoku started violently shaking Yato, yelling about 'holding back important details' and 'how much of an idiot he can be'. Things like that.

"Stop shaking me and I'll tell you everything I know about it!" Yato shouted at him, and Daikoku immediately stopped, dropped him, and waited impatiently for an explanation.

Sighing, Yato straightened his creased clothes and began, "Nora said something about a special type of poison."

A tick mark appeared on Daikoku's forehead. "You've already told me that!"

"That's all I know." Yato shrugged, smirking at Daikoku's reaction.

Daikoku grumbled under his breath, but fell silent when they both heard a groan.

* * *

~Yukine's POV~

It's dark. The darkness is everywhere. Wherever I look, it's just pitch black. But I can't feel any pain here. Actually, I can't feel _anything_. It's like I'm just a spirit, floating around without a body dragging me down.

But where am I?

I try to recall what happened to me. I remember Nora, the phantoms – and the _poison_. It hurt so much. I hope Yato did get my message, though. I'm not mad at him anymore. I just overreacted, really.

I wish I could apologize to him, really I do. But I can't. Not like this, anyway.

Am I dead?

No, I can't be. Not yet. Nora said the poison would kill me slowly and painfully. Hell, the painful part was right, but if it kills me slowly, then I can't be dead yet, right?

I gaze up at the infinite darkness above me. I'm so confused. So many unanswered questions.

Sighing, I wonder if it's possible for me to wake myself up – that is, if I'm just asleep or something and not dead. Ugh, this sort of thinking is so confusing!

But the real question is – do I _want_ to wake up? The real world is painful, and it hurts. But here, I don't feel the pain, the stress, or anything like that. I can truly relax here, with the feeling of being free.

But there's one problem here.

It's dark.

I'm scared of the dark.

My mind wanders back to the time when that little girl was a spirit, and was waiting for her mother to pick her up. She didn't realise she was dead. The phantoms hiding in the darkness corrupted her. And Yato…he killed her. Using me.

An involuntary shiver shoots up my spine as my mind starts to create images of the girl and the phantoms in the darkness.

I don't want to be here any longer.

I want to wake up.

As if on cue, the darkness starts to ease a bit, and weak light starts to envelop me.

All of a sudden, the feeling of being free disappears as I begin to stir.

My entire body feels heavy, not to mention the dull throb and ache in my limbs.

I groan with exhaustion. I know I've just woke up, but I'm so tired. I just want to go back to sleep.

But then I feel someone lightly shaking my shoulder, whispering my name and telling me to wake up.

I crack one eye open, but immediately shut it as bright light temporarily blinds me.

There's some shuffling about, as if someone's moving.

"It's alright, Yukine. Open your eyes." I hear a voice, I hear someone speaking, but my ears can't hear it properly. I hear it muffled and slurred, the words jumbled together and hard to understand.

Slowly, I begin to open my eyes again, surprised and relieved to find the light dimmed.

I try to take in my surroundings, but my vision's blurry and unfocused, and it refuses to clear. But I think there's a ceiling above me - I must be inside somewhere.

I see two blurry figures above me. Are they looking at me? I'm not sure, but one of them is saying something. I can't hear it properly – there's some sort of ringing in my ears that blocks out most of the sounds around me.

My throat feels sore and dehydrated – I need water.

I open my mouth and say in a hoarse, croaky voice, "…Wa…ter…" I'm surprised at how my voice sounds.

One of the figures disappears, but soon returns with an object in their hands. It looks grey or silver – or is it clear? I can't tell, but the other person props me up. I hiss at the contact; it hurts and I don't like it.

But the other person comes closer and puts a gentle hand on my chin, lifting it up. Suddenly, I can't breathe well. Is it the position my head's in? I can only take small intakes of breath, and it hurts my throat to breathe. I need water to ease my sore throat. But I also need air to stay alive.

I struggle against the two people, desperate to escape their holds so I can breathe properly, but I have very little strength.

The object that the first person had gets closer to my face, until its contents are poured down my throat.

At first, I panic, but I immediately relax as I realise it's water. Nice, cold water.

Hungrily, I drink the rest of the water, and the first person lowers their hand from my chin.

I lower my head and cough as I wheeze and try to take deep breaths. It hurts my chest to cough, but I can't stop it.

My vision starts to darken, and I realise I'm losing consciousness.

No matter how hard I try, I can't fight off the exhaustion, and embrace unconsciousness, hoping to escape this torture.

The last thing I see is the two blurry figures above me sharing a look before my eyes close and I feel my body go limp in the second person's arms.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter is quite long, sorry about that.**

 **I kept losing inspiration, so this actually took me over a week to write.**

 **Hopefully updates will be quicker, but no promises.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Omg, overdue update! I'm so sorry about that, but my computer suddenly broke, and I'm doing this off my tablet.**

 **The problem with that is, it has some sort of crazy autocorrect where I type the right word out and it changes it to something completely different. In fact, it's just done it now!**

 **Anyway, enough of my drabbles. On with the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami**

* * *

Yato watched as Yukine fell unconscious again. Was it that tiring just to drink a glass of water?

"Strange…" Daikoku murmured.

"I know…" Yato replied half-heartedly.

Daikoku turned to face him as the former god of calamity settled hsi Regalia's body back down. "Do you think we should try my method?"

Suddenly, a thought dawned on Yato, and he completely ignored Daikoku's question. "Hang on a minute. You seemed to know about the poison before I told you. Why's that?"

Daikoku shrugged. "He was just expressing some symptoms of poisoning, so I came to that conclusion. Turns out, I was right anyway."

Yato said nothing, instead gently holding Yukine's hand, running his thumb over the top of his hand.

"You never answered my question."

"Hmm? What?"

"Tsk! You never listen, you arrogant twat." Daikoku grumbled under his breath.

"How am _I_ an 'arrogant twat'?!" Yato yelled angrily.

Daikoku shrugged, smirking. "First thing that came to mind."

"Why you - this is what you want, isn't it? Something to distract me and lessen the tension in the air." Yato murmured, all anger gone from his voice. He smiled faintly. "How smart of you." Then he lowered his voice and added, "For once."

Unfortunately, Daikoku heard. "Oi!" He stood up, looking like he was about to punch Yato. "At least I'm useful!"

"Hey! I am useful!" Yato argued, his voice starting to rise again.

"Oh really? Then go get Hiyori."

Yato raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Daikoku tsked and rolled his eyes. "She has medical knowledge, idiot! Anyway, she's better than you."

"At what?!"

"Everything."

Yato growled but walked out the room, heading to Hiyori and Kofuku.

Daikoku watched him leave and smirked. "It's nice to know I can make him do what he's told." Then he turned to Yukine. "Now then, when Hiyori comes, I can start my method and make you better."

 _Hopefully,_ he mentally added grimly. _Yato probably had no idea what I was talking about when I explained it to him earlier. Meh, he wouldn't understand any way I told it to him. But Hiyori can probably understand it._

He was drawn out of his thoughts when Hiyori entered - followed by Yato.

"Bye, Yato." Daikoku said in a monotone voice.

"I thought the term was 'hi, Yato'." He raised an eyebrow.

"Bye, Yato."

"Urgh, fine." Yato walked out the room and down the hall, leaving Daikoku alone with Hiyori (excluding Yukine, of course).

"So, what did you want me for, Daikoku?" Hiyori asked.

"I need your help with something."

Hiyori walked over, curious, and crouched on the opposite side of Yukine that Daikoku was on. "What is it?"

"Listen closely. I only want to explain it once." He took a deep breath, before saying, "Basically, there's some sort of poison in Yukine. I think it might be mixed with blight. Take a very close look at his skin."

Hiyori obeyed him and leant closer, looking at the nearest unbandaged patch of skin. It was pale, but also had a purply tinge to it.

"It looks like there's blight or something _under_ his skin." She murmured, before frowning at Daikoku. "But how can that be?"

He sighed. "I thought so. You've just confirmed my suspicions. Right, well, I better explain my 'method' to you."

"'Method'?"

"Basically, well start off by pouring some holy water on one of the weird punture marks." He pointed to one of the puncture marks, on Yukine's leg. However, it was hard to see as there was a small bandage covering it."I reckon this is where the poison and blight got in. Pour a little on, then add pressure. We'll see what happens, then go from there."

Hiyori mulled over his words, before nodding. "Alright."

Daikoku got up and grabbed a half-full bottle of holy water, before walking back over and unscrewing the lid. He carefully poured some into the plastic lid, before placing the bottle on the floor, making sure it stood upright.

The brown-haired regalia carefully removed the small bandage, and with a quick glance at Hiyori, slowly poured the lid-full of holy water onto the small wound. When there was only a slight twitch of Yukine's fingers in response, he then proceeded to press two fingers into the puncture mark.

 _That_ got a bigger response.

With a loud cry of pain, Yukine's head snapped back, fists clenching at his sides. But once the initial shock of sudden pain faded, he relaxed a bit, just quietly hissing before unclenching his fists and going still again.

Hiyori blinked, surprised by the reaction. "Well... _that_ was something."

"It does sting when holy water rids the body of a blight. But now we know for certain that he has blight in his body. We'll add another lid-full, and another after that. We'll keep doing that until he doesn't react much anymore, alright? Then we'll move onto the other puncture marks. There's six in all. Then add some to his other injuries - just in case."

Hiyori nodded. "Okay. Anything else?"

"After all that, he'll have to drink some."

The brunette girl's eyes flew wide open. "What?!"

"It's the best solution to ensure there's no more blight left in his body. Then we just have to treat the poison."

"Um...okay."

Then Daikoku repeated the process on the same leg, until after two more lid-fulls, there was next to no reaction from Yukine.

They went on to another puncture mark, and soon finished with it. Luckily, Daikoku had a fair few bottles of holy water, so they didn't have to worry about running out.

Once all six puncture marks had been sorted, the pair moved onto Yukine's other injuries. The process took less time on the other wounds, but the entire thing took an hour and a half.

As Daikoku finished tending to the last injury, Hiyori let out a deep sigh, leaning back and looking down at their work. Yukine was doing a lot better now; his skin had lost the majority of the purply tinge, but it was still pale. _The poison's still in him,_ she thought, _but the blight's nearly all gone. We've just got to get him to...drink the blight._

"One last thing to do, then you can have a break, alright?" Daikoku looked at her in concern. _She looks exhausted,_ he thought.

"Right." Then a thought struck her and she couldn't help but ask. "Hey Daikoku, if you don't mind me asking, why are you bring so nice?"

"Why? Is there something _wrong_ with _me_ being _nice_?" He asked in a dangerous tone.

Hiyori hurriedly flapped her arms around in a desperate attempt to calm him down. "No, no! I didn't mean it like that!"

Daikoku hmphed (it's hard to explain what this sounds like) and started looking for a glass to put the holy water in.

Seeing he'd calmed down, Hiyori continued, "What I meant is that you're being so kind and caring for Yukine and I think it's really sweet."

Daikoku walked back over, a mild look of surprise on his face. "You think I'm sweet?"

"Er...I don't really know how to answer that."

Daikoku growled.

"Yes! I think you're very sweet!" Hiyori hurriedly corrected, scared that she'd made him mad or something.

Daikoku laughed loudly. "You don't have to act so scared around me, Hiyori! I was only messing with you!"

"O-oh. Right."

His laughter stopped and his smile turned into a grim one. "Now then, I suppose it's about time we got started."

Hiyori hummed a yes, and prepared to prop Yukine up and begin the last stage of ridding his body of blight.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm ending it here. Sorry people, but my tablet's nearly dead and I'm hungry. Yes, my hunger is now a good enough reason to cut it short. Also, it's a Monday. I have school. It's nearly six pm. Therefore, my brain is shutting down.**

 **Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I know, I know, late update. Well, pfft.**

 **I just want to say thanks for all the reviews and stuff I've been getting.**

 **Anyway, on with the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami**

* * *

After Daikoku basically told Yato to go ("Bye, Yato"), he walked down the hall to see Kofuku. She glanced up as he walked in, and noticed his grim expression.

"Yato? What's up?" She asked, starting to get up.

"Nothing." He muttered through clenched teeth.

She frowned at his response and walked over to him. "Come on, don't lie. What's the matter?"

Yato sighed, closing his eyes, before opening them again. There was raw hatred and fury in them. "Nora's gonna pay." He spat, each word dripping with venom.

Kofuku knew where he was going with this. "Listen, Yato. We all want some kind of revenge on Nora for making Yukine suffer. But what you have in mind is violent, and too drastic."

"You don't know what I have in mi-"

The God of Poverty raised her hand to silence him. "You're planning on attacking her and possibly even killing her. Evil or not, you're still killing a person." She sighed. "Just…consider what you're doing before you take action. Don't do anything you'll regret."

Yato didn't say anything, mulling over Kofuku's words.

"Also," she added, "I know this is a cheesy line, but think about Yukine. He probably wants Nora to pay for what she did personally, but how would he react if he found out that his master had seriously hurt her or even killed her?"

"…"

"He'd be scared of you. And a true relationship between two people doesn't have any fear towards each other in it. And if he's scared of you, his blade won't be very sharp in battle, as his vision will be too clouded with fear to actually fight. Do you get me?"

Yato nodded.

Kofuku smiled. "Good. Honestly Yato, you're such a piece of work sometimes."

Yato managed a small smile. "I didn't realise you could be serious, Kofuku."

She shrugged. "Well, when dealing with you lot, I feel like a life coach, so I've got to be serious sometimes."

Yato gave a short bark of laughter before going silent, his eyes narrowing slightly.

The pink-haired god frowned. "What's the matter now?"

"You know, I'm pretty sure Nora acted out of jealousy."

"Jealousy? How so?"

"She said things, like how 'small and insignificant' Yukine's life was. She also kept going on about how he's going to die; like it was inevitable. She also said that she hurt him so I'd use her."

"Interesting."

Yato nodded. "I think she was jealous of Yukine and took drastic measures to try and get me to use her. Of course, now I want to kill her, and Yukine's going to live, so her little _plan_ didn't exactly work out."

"…You sound certain that Yukine's going to live."

Yato tensed, locking eyes with Kofuku, before she lowered her gaze to the floor. "And what do you mean by that? Don't tell me you think he's going to die!"

"…I…just don't know. Like you said, Nora thought that Yukine's death was inevitable. And sure, he was pretty beat up, but he's recovering as we speak. It was only flesh wounds and blight. They can be healed."

"Well, actually…" Yato trailed off, but Kofuku instantly sensed he was hiding something.

"What?"

"...Yukine's got some sort of poison in him. Presumably, Nora's got the antidote."

"How could you not tell me this?!"

"I told Daikoku not long ago. Hiyori no doubt knows now, as well. I meant to tell you all as soon as possible, but this whole thing's just stressful and I kept putting it off, you know? You were all already miserable about Yukine's condition, so telling you it's worse will just make everyone even more down."

"I see your reasoning, but you should have told us."

Yato hung his head. "I know."

"Hey, don't be sad. Was there anything else Nora said that might help us get the antidote? Presuming she has one, of course."

"Well…she did say that she would 'give Yukine some time to die', and then come and ask me to use her again."

"Wow…she seems really confident that Yukine will die."

"I know." Yato clenched his fists. "It's sickening."

"…"

"So what should we do?"

"She'll probably show up here or somewhere nearby. If she does…" Kofuku trailed off, unsure of what to say next.

"Then we act like Yukine's getting worse, or died. We trick her into thinking that she's winning, and then say something like 'how could you create such a nasty poison and then not bother with an antidote'. If she mentions that she _does_ have an antidote, then there's two ways to go about it. If it's on her, then we could forcefully take it. If it's _not_ on her, then we retreat and somehow find it."

Kofuku raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that will work?"

Yato shrugged. "I don't know; I just thought of it off the top of my head."

"Wow. So you _can_ be smart."

The former god of calamity playfully punched her shoulder. "Shut up."

* * *

Meanwhile, Hiyori and Daikoku were taking a fifteen-minute break before working on the final stage of getting rid of Yukine's blight. They'd originally planned to the do it straight after the rest, but Hiyori felt exhausted, and no doubt the internal cleansing would hurt a lot more than the external cleaning, thus more work to restrain the poor boy. So they thought that a short break would restore some of their energy.

She went to the bathroom to go to the toilet and splash some water on her face. When she returned, Daikoku was gazing out the window, looking thoughtful.

"Something on your mind?" She asked as she walked in.

He glanced at her, before shaking his head. "It's nothing. Are you ready now?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Nodding, Daikoku crouched down beside Yukine, before frowning. "Should we wake him?"

"What?"

"Should we wake him up while he drinks it? It would make things easier." Daikoku reasoned.

"True…alright then." Hiyori leant down and gently shook Yukine's shoulder. "Yukine? Can you hear me?"

All she got in response was a slight twitch of his fingers. Sighing, she tried again. "Hey, you need to wake up. Come on."

Yukine groaned, cracking one eye open. A blurry figure was hovering over him. He could make out brown hair, as his vision was a bit clearer than earlier, but still blurry.

"C'n y' h'r m'?" Was all that reached his ears. It was distorted and obviously missing a few sounds.

"-ne? Yuk'ne? H'y, can y' h'r me?" His hearing was slowly improving as his senses gradually came back to him.

The person above him said something that he didn't catch, and then said, "Plea'e fo'us."

He closed his eyes, focusing what little energy he had (he felt surprisingly drained) into his hearing.

"-clos'd his e'es. 'M not 'ure." He felt someone shake his shoulder. "Are 'ou awa'e?"

There was a short silence, before the voice came again, "Yuk'ne. O'en your eyes." He understood most of that sentence, and obeyed.

As he opened his eyes, he saw the person above him open her mouth and a distorted noise came out of it. He guessed it was a sigh, but now his hearing had gone bad again because his eyes were open. He was so tired; couldn't the person just let him go to sleep?

Hiyori sighed with relief as Yukine slowly opened his eyes. He'd scared her when he closed them; she thought he'd passed out or something. His eyes were glazed over when he looked up. In fact, they were unfocused, so she guessed he wasn't even _looking_ up. His eyesight was probably blurry. He also looked like he was having a hard time listening.

"Okay, Daikoku, you can come back over now." She'd sent him a few metres away so Yukine didn't feel cramped if there were two people kneeling over him. "We better start. He looks exhausted; not to mention his body needs rest in order to recover."

Daikoku nodded, preparing the bottle of holy water. They weren't going to make him take sips from the lid; he just had to drink it straight from the bottle.

Hiyori gently wrapped a hand underneath Yukine's shoulders, and then slowly moved him into an upright position so he wouldn't choke on the holy water. His eyebrows creased into a frown as he was moved, but he remained silent.

The brown-haired girl knew there was no way he could open his mouth on his own, so, with her free hand, she opened his mouth and Daikoku placed the neck of the bottle on Yukine's bottom lip, and very slowly tilted the bottle upwards, letting the liquid inside enter Yukine's mouth.

Automatically, he tried to swallow, but found he struggled with that quite a bit. Hiyori pressed a couple of points on his neck and throat, and he managed to swallow the holy water.

Almost immediately, his eyes widened and his body went rigid, a silent scream on his lips. Both people grimaced at the sight. Neither of them wanted to do this; but it was helping out a friend in need. They _had_ to do this.

Hiyori didn't like it at all. She didn't like how much pain Yukine was in. She didn't like the fact that _she_ had to cause some of that pain, even if it would make him better. She didn't like how this whole thing was partially her fault. If only she'd gone after him instead of staying behind, then she could have helped him fight Nora, or prevent the confrontation entirely.

 _This was just one little sip,_ the brunette thought miserably, _he probably has to drink the entire bottle. I can't even imagine how painful this must be for him. But at least we know it must be working._

She was drawn out of her thoughts when she noticed Yukine's eyes drooping. "No," she muttered, before saying to him in a clear voice, "Don't fall asleep, Yukine. Stay awake." His eyelids slowly opened, eyebrows creased into a pained frown.

"That's it. Don't fall asleep." Hiyori coaxed. She could tell the blonde boy was struggling to stay awake, but he _had_ to. They had to get rid of the poison as soon as possible, and the blight was part of it.

Daikoku brought the bottle to Yukine's mouth again, and once Hiyori had opened it, he poured some more holy water down Yukine's throat. This time, though, it seemed that Yukine had found his voice, as he screamed and started weakly flailing about. Hiyori held him down as best as she could, and once he calmed down, they repeated the cycle. It was a simple cycle, but it was so hard for them to do.

This lasted for about half an hour, as each sip and the after-effects took about three minutes, but the bottle was nearly empty. Yukine didn't sound like he was in as much pain as when they started, but it still hurt him.

Little did they know, Yato was stood quietly outside the room, listening to his only Regalia's cries of pain, fists clenched and itching for revenge.

* * *

 **A/N: Chapter complete!**

 **Don't worry; Yukine's not going to be suffering** ** _too_** **much in the next few chapters. Maybe.**

 **I don't have anything else to say, except I hope you like this story.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Don't worry, I'm not dead yet.**

 **I return to you, my faithful readers, and I bring with me a new chapter. (I sound like a queen, don't I? Yeah, I do.)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami**

* * *

Yato knew that Daikoku and Hiyori had almost finished getting rid of the blight in Yukine's body. He decided he needed a bit of fresh air to calm down and _not_ punch a wall, imagining Nora's face underneath his fist.

Walking out the front door, completely ignoring Kofuku's curious gaze, he set out towards the forest clearing where he and Hiyori had found Yukine after his battle with Nora.

 _Hopefully, I can find some clues to help create an antidote. I mean, what if Nora doesn't even_ have _an antidote? That means Yukine will di-_ Yato furiously shook his head, not continuing the thought. Yukine wasn't going to die. He'd get better. Everything will go back to the way it was.

Unfortunately, things don't always turn out the way you want them.

He felt a shiver run up his spine. He felt a presence behind him. Spinning round on his heel, he glared daggers at none other than Nora.

"What are _you_ doing here?" He asked in a low, dangerous tone.

Nora's lips curled upwards. "Just taking a little stroll through the woods."

"Quit playing around! What do you want?" Yato demanded.

Nora rolled her eyes, but her smile never left her face. "You're no fun, Yato~" She said in a sing-song voice, before adding, "I'm here to tell you something."

Yato raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so? Let me guess, you want me to go back to you? Tsk. You're so predictable-"

Nora raised a hand to silence him. "Actually, it's not that."

"Then what do you want to tell me? Out with it." Yato folded his arms, not in the mood for any tricks.

The raven-haired (?) girl opened a hand that Yato never realised was closed, revealing a syringe with a strange liquid in it. "This," she picked up the syringe with her index finger and her thumb, "is the thing that will save _Yukine's_ life." She spat out his name as if he were filth.

Yato growled at the way she said his suffering Regalia's name, but his eyes widened slightly at the meaning behind her words. "You mean…that's the antidote?"

She nodded, her smile growing wider. "That's right. You want it, don't you?"

Yato nearly nodded, but stopped himself. _I'm not going to play into her hands. She's up to something._ "What are you up to, Nora?"

"What? I'm not up to _anything_ ~"

Yato narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't lie. What's the catch?"

"Awwww…you saw through me, Yato?" She giggled. "As attentive as ever, I see." Then her face grew serious. "But it think you _know_ what 'the catch' is."

"For me to go back to you. But you said that we weren't going to talk about that-"

"Actually, I just said that I wasn't here to tell you _that_. In fact, I came here or two things. Firstly, to show you the antidote so you know I'm not bluffing. Secondly, to arrange a meeting."

"A…meeting? What sort of meeting?"

"You and me. No-one else. Meet here at midnight. Tonight. No tricks. Just a… _trade_ of sorts."

"What sort of _trade_?" Yato asked suspiciously.

But Nora only smiled, starting to walk backwards into the trees. "Oh, it's a _very_ important trade. Come tonight to this clearing. You'll know everything then." Then the shadows consumed her, and she was gone from sight.

Sighing, Yato clenched his fists. _I was so close to the antidote! Dammit, I could have taken it from her! And what's this 'trade' about? I better tell Kofuku about it. She might know. Although I_ do _have a pretty good idea of what it might be._ He thought as he scanned the clearing. Yukine's blood had long dried into the snow, and the footprints (and pawprints in some cases) were still visible in the snow, although had faded a bit.

Turning away from the sight, the former god of calamity walked back the way he came.

* * *

Hiyori lay on her back, gazing up at the ceiling. The blight had _finally_ left Yukine's body, and now the blonde boy was unconscious – no, she didn't like that. _Sleeping_ was a better way of putting it. The poor lad was exhausted. _So am I,_ Hiyori thought tiredly.

"Hiyori? You alright?" Daikoku glanced over at her, a bit of concern briefly flashing in his eyes.

"Oh! Um, yeah. I'm fine." She hurriedly answered, slightly caught off guard by the sudden question. "Just tired." She added.

Daikoku sighed. "I'm tired too. But I dare say the worst of it's over. His wounds will heal, although they may leave a few scars. The blight's gone now, which leaves the poison." He rose to his feet, walking over to her. "How about we go get something to eat? We've earned it, after all."

Hiyori nodded and slowly got to her feet. "Sounds good."

They went into the room where Kofuku was, and Daikoku opened the fridge while Hiyori sat down next to the pink-haired god.

"Hiyori, do you want some water?" Daikoku asked with his head in the fridge.

"Sure." When the tall Regalia threw the bottle to her, she thanked him and took a sip.

Suddenly, Yato walked in, making all three in the room jump.

"Yato! You scared me!" Kofuku exclaimed. "Where did you _go_ , anyway?"

He sat down beside Hiyori and sighed. "Into the woods. I…ran into someone."

Kofuku frowned. "You mean Nora?"

Yato nodded. "Yeah." Then he proceeded to tell them about the conversation in the clearing.

When he'd finished, Hiyori spoke up with hope in her voice, "So if Nora has an antidote, then if we give it to Yukine, he'll get better?"

"Yes, I suppose…" Yato sounded uncertain, and Daikoku picked up on it.

"But you don't know if it really works or not." He finished, earning a nod from Yato.

"Oh…" Hiyori looked down, before a new idea sprung into her mind. "So she told you to go alone? Well, why don't we all go, but us three hide or something? Actually, it might be best if one of us stayed behind to look after Yukine. I think I'll stay behind. That would probably be best."

Yato glanced at her, frowning. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, what if it's a trap? If we're there, even if we're hiding, then you won't be completely defenceless!" She broke out into a smile as her idea began to make more and more sense.

"Hey! I'm not _completely_ defenceless!" Yato cried, before saying, "But your plan isn't bad, Hiyori."

"So now we all know what we're going to be doing at midnight tonight, we should get some sleep. Hiyori and I are both exhausted." Daikoku pointed out.

Yato's head snapped up and he asked, "How is he?"

Daikoku let a small smile appear on his face. "The blight's all gone. We just need that antidote and he'll be well on the road to recovery."

Yato sighed with relief. "Great." Then he added, "I'm going to go see him before I go to sleep."

He walked out the room, and soon the other three headed off to get some sleep. Hiyori was going to stay there, not wanting to travel all the way back to her house, just to return later.

Yato quietly walked over to Yukine, grasping his hand gently. "You'll recover from this; I promise." He murmured to his Regalia. "I know you; you refuse to die this way, don't you? And _I_ refuse to let you die this way as well."

He was quiet for a moment, before saying, "Hopefully, I'll bring you an antidote tonight, okay? Just hang on until then."

Yato felt a lump in his throat and a sting in his eyes as he added, "I love you, Yukine. You're not just my Regalia. You're my guide, my friend…and my _family_. So please…don't die."

The god gave Yukine's hand a soft squeeze, and he could have sworn that he felt a small squeeze back.

* * *

 **A/N: Probably a boring chapter, I know. It also seems like a filler chapter. Oh well.**

 **The next chapter is where sh*t goes down, to put it bluntly.**

 **Not many more chapters left! Yay…?**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'm in a good mood so I'll be nice and give you this chapter earlier than usual.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami**

* * *

At 11:30 PM, the four were up and three of them were preparing to head out to meet Nora. Yato was saying goodbye to Yukine, whilst Hiyori was changing the cold towel on his head. Daikoku and Kofuku were patiently waiting for Yato to finish up.

When the former god of calamity left the room, he headed over to the other two. "You ready to go?" He asked them.

Daikoku raised an eyebrow. "For your information, we've been waiting for _you_ to get ready to go. So are _you_ ready to go now or do you need another minute?" His question was sarcastic, and Yato answered with a roll of his eyes.

Yato walked past them and went to the door, before opening it and stepping out. He was greeted with a rush of cold air and darkness, with only the lampposts to offer any source of light. His eyes quickly adjusted, however, and he started forward, aware of Kofuku and Daikoku's footsteps behind him.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning round, Yato noticed Kofuku was holding something out to him. Picking it up, he realised it was a torch.

"Oh! Er…thanks, Kofuku." He scratched the back of his head, surprised at how he could have forgotten something as important as a torch, which he would very well need in order not to walk into something or trip over every five seconds.

She smiled. "Don't mention it." Nodding, Yato turned back and started walking again, only for Kofuku to clear her throat.

"Hey, Yato." She called, holding back a chuckle. "You may need to turn the torch on."

Embarrassed, Yato clicked the torch on, and was rewarded with a strong beam of light that stretched out in front of him. It only went about four or five metres, but it was enough.

Continuing down the street, Yato soon thought about something. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the shadowy figures of his two companions.

"Hang on. Why don't you two have torches?" He asked, confused.

Daikoku sighed. "Are you stupid? If Nora sees three lights instead of one, she'll get suspicious. No, we can only rely on your torchlight to find our way."

Kofuku nudged him gently as Yato nodded and turned back to watch where he was going. "You could be a bit nicer, you know." She glanced at Yato's back. "He's got a lot on his mind at the moment."

Daikoku looked at the pink-haired god, before gazing to his right, where there was nothing but darkness. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Kofuku nearly walked into Yato's back as he suddenly stopped.

Just as she was about to ask him why he stopped, he said in a quiet voice, "Okay, we're just about to enter the forest. There'll be a lot of frozen twigs and leaves on the ground, so step carefully, alright? We don't know where Nora is yet, so we don't want to be too loud and draw attention to ourselves. In fact, I think it would be best if we split up."

"But then we can't see." Kofuku pointed out.

"I know, but…" He trailed off uncertainly.

"Why don't we stick together until we're about twenty metres away from the clearing? Then we split up." Daikoku suggested.

"How will we know when we're twenty metres away?" Kofuku asked, frowning.

"Alright then, scratch that idea. Well, it takes about five to ten minutes to reach the clearing from the edge of the forest. We'll be slowed down because we have to step carefully, so just over ten minutes at least. So, when we get to ten minutes, we'll split up, okay? But if we reach the clearing before then, then we'll split up and you two spread out. Got it?" Yato looked at them, and when he received two nods, they entered the forest.

It was easier said than done to avoid the frozen leaves and twigs that were scattered across the forest floor. It was impossible to avoid all of them; not to mention the crunching of the snow under their feet. However, the trio still tried to make as little noise as possible.

Daikoku, who had been timing ten minutes, tapped Kofuku and Yato on the shoulder, and whispered, "Ten minutes is up. Time to split up."

After a synchronised nod from the other two, Daikoku veered off to the right, while Kofuku steered herself to the left and Yato continued straight on.

Yato failed to hide his breath as it appeared in small puffs every time he exhaled. It was very cold out, and a little windy, as well. Walking in a dark forest in the middle of the night with the constant crunching under your foot and a cold air shaking the branches overhead would creep anyone out. It creeped Yato out, that was for sure.

But finally, the trees thinned as he arrived at the edge of the clearing. Sighing with relief, he walked into the middle of the clearing, ignoring - as best as he could – the blood stains that had dried into the snow.

Turning his phone on, he found out that the time was 11:57 PM. _Nora should be here round about now,_ he thought as he scanned the area around him. _No sign of her. I am a bit early, though._

A couple minutes passed, and still no sign of Nora. Glancing at his phone again, Yato read 11:59 PM. However, before he turned the screen off, it changed to 00:00 AM. Exactly as it turned, a voice appeared directly behind him.

"Helloooo, Yatoooo~" The voice made the 'o' of each word longer, and the voice itself rose at the end, sending a shiver down Yato's spine.

Whirling round (and nearly dropping his phone), he came face-to-face with Nora, who smiled innocently at him.

"Did you come alone?" Yato asked cautiously, as if expecting an ambush or a trap.

Nora's smile never left her face. "Of course; I'm true to my word." Yato snorted at this, but she ignored him. "Did _you_ come alone?"

Yato nodded. "Yeah." Nora narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She was so close to him that she could hear his heartbeat; and it just quickened.

"Alright then." Nora took a few steps back, her face returning to an innocent expression once more. "So, let me tell you about this little _trade_."

Yato pocketed his phone and folded his arms, although holding his arm in a position that shone the torch on Nora.

"So, I will give you the antidote to the poison, and in return-"

"We- I already have a team working on creating an antidote." He knew it was a pointless bluff, but he wanted to test her reaction.

Of course, she saw right through it. "Now now, don't bluff, Yato. It won't get you anywhere."

Yato mumbled something inaudible.

"Now will you let me continue?"

Yato hmphed, acting childish although inside, the clogs in his head were turning rapidly, formulating a plan in his mind.

"So, I will give you the antidote, which will save your little _boy_ , and in return, you will sign this."

The god raised an eyebrow. _I have to sign something? Like a contract, so I can't go back on my word or something?_

Nora pulled out a folded sheet of paper, although Yato couldn't read what was on it due to the lack of light. The torch was simply not enough. She then proceeded to pull out a pen and a hardback book. The book's cover was blank, which lead Yato to believe that its contents were also blank.

"Sign this with this pen. Use this book to lean on." She ordered.

"I can't really see it, so how do I know what I'm signing myself off to?" _Although I have a pretty good idea,_ he added to himself.

"It basically says that you swear not to attack me or try to harm me under any circumstances." She said calmly.

"I find that hard to believe."

"Oh? Then read it." She held the paper closer to the light, and Yato got a good look at it. It was folded into three, like a leaflet. She held it portrait, and lifted the top part of it up (the inside of the 'front cover'), revealing a handwritten paragraph that mentioned what she had said. Underneath, on the blank side of the middle section, there was a line, and just before it, it said 'signature'.

* * *

 **Okay, this might be confusing. You know on an a4 piece of paper, if you organise it into three parts and then fold it, you can make a leaflet? Well, the front cover (left hand side usually) and the back cover (middle usually) are on the same side, and when you open the front cover, you're met with the opposite side of the front cover and the last side (right hand side usually) of the side which has the front cover and the back cover on. If you open this side, you are met with the other two sides which are on the inside. Does this make sense? If it does, great.**

 **Basically, Nora has one side of an a4 piece of paper completely blank. The blank side is the side that usually has the front and back cover. So she's opened the front cover, showing the opposite side of that part, which is where the paragraph is written. Underneath it, is the last blank side of the blank side of the sheet. She's written 'signature' on it, and drawn a line for Yato to write his signature on. If she opened the side which said 'signature', which is part of the blank side, it would reveal the other two sections of the inside. Has this confused you even more? Sorry if it has. But back to the story.**

* * *

"Can you open the last part so I can see the rest of the inside, Nora?" Yato asked, suspicious as to why she hadn't already.

Nora's smile faltered for a second, before it returned, still with the 'innocent' look. "Why? Don't you trust me, Yato?"

"No."

"Well you should. This paragraph is the only thing you need to read. The signature is the only thing you need to write."

Yato sighed. "Fine. Give me the pen and the book, then." Nora complied, and Yato brought up his knee to balance the book on. The raven-haired girl then placed the paper on top of the book and handed the pen over to him, but not before she took his torch and shone it on the paper.

He then proceeded to write on the line, before dropping his knee, causing the book and the paper to fall onto the ground. He took a couple of steps back, keeping an eye on Nora while he scanned the clearing for Daikoku and Kofuku.

As Nora picked up the paper, she checked the signature and nearly dropped it in shock. It said two simple words:

 _Fuck you._

She stared at Yato, and her eyes widened as he whistled loudly. Just one long, high note, but it brought two pairs of running footsteps.

Nora barely had time to react before her arms were held away from her body and she was forced to her knees. She wriggled frantically, trying to escape the grip of a brown-haired man and a pink-haired woman, but it was no use.

Yato walked forward, before crouching down and peering at Nora, searching with his eyes for the antidote. A small bulge in one of the folds of her clothing caught his eye, and he reached in and grabbed a long, thin object. Pulling it out, he discovered that it was a syringe, with a glossy gold liquid inside.

"No!" Nora shouted. "Yato, you tricked me! How dare you! You're going to pay for this-"

She was cut off as a menacing aura surrounded Yato, and he towered above her. "You should consider yourself lucky, _Nora_. I won't _ever_ forgive you for this, but know this; I will _never_ wield you again. I will let you go just this once, but I swear, if you _ever_ mess with me or my fami- _friends_ again, then I will bring heaven's wrath down upon you. Got it?"

Terrified by the threatening tone in Yato's voice, Nora was frozen. But suddenly, a small smile appeared on her face. "You wouldn't ever hurt me, would you, Yato? And I believe I-"

Nora never finished her sentence as Yato brought his knee smashing into her face. Kofuku's eyes widened, and Daikoku raised an eyebrow, but otherwise made no move, still holding her arms.

"Watch me." The former god of calamity spat as he prepared to strike again.

However, before his knee connected with Nora's now bleeding nose, Daikoku stepped in. "That's enough, Yato. I think you broke her nose with that hit."

Yato frowned, lowering his leg to the ground and glared at Nora, whose nose did indeed look broken.

Shrugging, he bent down to pick up the paper, which Nora had dropped, and ripped it in half, not bothering to look at the rest of the contents that remained unread, hidden on the inside. He already knew what they were about. Nora wanted to trick him into signing something that meant he would never harm her. The rest would say that Yato would once again be close partners with Nora and stuff like that.

"You can let her go now. She won't follow us." Yato called to Kofuku and Daikoku, who released Nora. She immediately curled up, holding her nose with both hands.

Yato sighed. "More blood stains the snow."

The other two shared a look, before walking away from Nora. Yato snatched his torch from the snow where it lay after Nora had dropped it (as well as the paper) when she was restrained by Daikoku and Kofuku.

"We better get going. The sooner Yukine gets this antidote, the better." Kofuku pointed out, falling into step with Daikoku.

Yato trailed a few metres behind. "Hey, guys." He said, catching their attention.

"Yeah?" Kofuku tilted her head to the side.

He lowered his gaze to the floor. "Please…don't tell anyone what you saw tonight – especially Yukine or Hiyori. I…don't want them knowing what I-"

He was cut off by a hand on his shoulder. Glancing up, he realised that the hand belonged to Kofuku. She smiled. "Don't worry, Yato. No-one knows about this other than us, okay?"

He managed a small smile. "Thanks."

"Sure. Now, we need you to walk in front; after all, you have the torch." She gave him a friendly push.

The trio exited the clearing, heading back home to give Yukine the antidote and put this mess behind them.

* * *

 **A/N: One more chapter left! I think, anyway. This wasn't going to be very long, anyway.**

 **I apologize again if the whole paper thing confused you. In fact, it took me at least twenty minutes to get it right and I had to search for an actual leaflet to help me! Is that bad?**

 **I'm sorry if Yato was OOC in this chapter, especially with the whole 'knee Nora in the face' thing,**

 **Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this story, even if it is drawing to a close.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: FINAL CHAPTER!**

 **I'll probably say a few words at the end. So, on with the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami**

* * *

Hiyori gently dabbed Yukine's forehead with a cool cloth, attempting to wipe away the sweat collecting there. His fever, although not as bad as before, still raged on.

She sighed as he groaned again in his sleep, and shifted slightly. His breathing was slightly laboured, as if there were an invisible weight on his chest that made taking a breath hard. Occasionally, he would partly wake up, trying to speak gibberish with a cracked voice and a dry throat. The brunette could tell that Yukine wasn't haven't a peaceful sleep.

Hiyori turned her head to gaze out of the window. There weren't many stars out, as dark clouds covered most of them, but the moon still shone bright. _It's a crescent moon,_ she remarked as she smiled at the fact that just staring at the moon could calm her nerves and relax her.

Covering her mouth, she stifled a sudden yawn. She realised that exhaustion was slowly creeping up on her. Stretching with her arms above her head, Hiyori winced slightly at the loud popping sound her back made. Glancing over at Yukine, she nearly had a heart attack when she saw him with eyes half-open and struggling to sit up.

Reaching over, she placed her hands on his shoulders, as if to coax him back down. Hiyori was unsurprised by the fact that he barely seemed to recognise her. He wearily moved his head to look at her, although his eyes were glazed over and he looked like he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

"Shhh, it's alright. Lay back down, Yukine. Are you thirsty?" Of course, she knew that he only partly heard her, and his eyebrows creased into a frown.

"Do you need some water?" She asked slowly and clearly. After a few seconds, he nodded slightly, and she got up and went to fill a cup (glass wouldn't be the best option in case it broke) with cold water from the bathroom tap.

When she returned, she was glad to see him scanning the room with slightly wider eyes, as if he were just fully waking up.

Silently, the brunette walked over to the blonde and knelt by his side, before sliding an arm underneath his shoulders.

"Okay, Yukine. I'm going to sit you up, okay? Tell me if it hurts too much." Once again, she spoke slowly and clearly, which seemed to make him understand better.

Carefully, Hiyori propped him up, earning a quiet whimper, but nothing major. She brought the cup to his lips, and he immediately opened his mouth. She tipped the cup slightly, allowing some of the water to enter his mouth, to which he greedily swallowed it. His posture, which was previously tense, had relaxed slightly as the cool water soothed his burning throat.

After draining the entire cup, Yukine closed his eyes again, and mumbled a slurred 'thanks', before sagging slightly against Hiyori's arm. Setting the cup on the floor, the girl lowered the Regalia to the ground, pulling a blanket over him as she put a hand to his forehead, checking his temperature. While still fairly high, it was not dangerously so, but she still grabbed a cloth and went into the bathroom to wet it with cold water, before returning and placing it over Yukine's forehead, quickly sweeping his bangs away from his face.

 _I hope Yato, Daikoku and Kofuku get home soon,_ she thought, slightly nervous. What was this 'trade' that Nora had proposed to Yato about? Whatever it was, it gave her an uneasy feeling.

Staring out the window again, she started to calm herself, knowing that she shouldn't get herself too worried, in case it affected her when she took care of Yukine.

* * *

Meanwhile, the trio were on the road leading back to the house, Yato clutching the torch in one hand and the antidote in the other.

A couple minutes later, they stood before the entrance. Yato, wasting no time, hurried inside, followed by Kofuku and Daikoku, the latter of which shut the door behind him.

The former god of calamity quickly – but quietly – entered the room which held his injured Regalia and his half-human, half-phantom friend. He sighed in relief as he noticed that Yukine looked a little better; even if it wasn't by much, it was still an improvement.

Kneeling beside Yukine, he took his arm and turned it so the underside faced the ceiling. He'd discarded the torch (after turning it off) when he walked in, and his other hand still held the antidote.

"Do you have the antidote?" Hiyori asked, leaning forward slightly.

Yato said nothing, only holding his hand out and opening it. Her face lit up as she caught sight of the syringe.

"I want to give him this now, but I'm not sure what the best point to inject the needle into him would be. I know to put it in his arm though. Just…not sure where, you know?" The real meaning behind his explanation was 'can you show me where to inject him with the antidote?'

She pointed to a spot on the underside of Yukine's arm, just below the elbow. "Here." ( **Not sure if that's the right spot, sorry.)**

Yato took a deep breath, raising the syringe, before he hesitated. In truth, he was terrified of messing it up, and causing some sort of damage to Yukine.

"Do you…want me to do it?" Hiyori asked quietly. Yato slowly nodded, handing the syringe over to Hiyori, who moved closer to Yukine's arm. She gently injected the needle into the correct place, before pressing down on the syringe and pushing the liquid into the boy's arm. He flinched, before relaxing.

Yato sighed heavily, leaning back and putting a hand to his face. Hiyori frowned at his actions.

He laughed humourlessly, before taking his hand away from his face. "It's finally over." He almost whispered, before his voice raised to a normal speaking level. "Yukine will be alright."

"Damn right he will." A sudden voice caused Hiyori to jump, as Daikoku walked into the room, followed shortly by Kofuku.

"If Yukine doesn't recover after giving us all a scare like that, then I'll…I'll…" Kofuku trailed off, thinking of a good punishment to give Yukine if he didn't recover.

"I guess we're all just glad that he's hopefully out of the woods." Hiyori chipped in, a small smile tugging at her lips. Everyone silently agreed with her.

* * *

Over the next few days, Yukine's poisoning symptoms slowly faded. His fever had finally broken, and his breathing was much easier. He could properly wake up, but always complained that he was tired. His speech was no longer slurred, and he seemed more attentive when someone was speaking to him.

Hiyori had never seen such a look of relief on Yato's face as Yukine's health grew stronger with each day, until finally, he had completely recovered.

It happened when Yukine had been sleeping, and Yato had taken his hand and was gently rubbing it with his own hand whilst speaking soothingly to him.

Yato's gaze was focused so intently on their hands – even though he was spacing out - that he never noticed that Yukine had opened his eyes and was looking at the god with a raised eyebrow.

The blonde Regalia cleared his throat, startling Yato enough to make him leap backwards and fall over at the same time, nearly taking Yukine with him had he not released his hold on the boy's hand.

Yukine laughed lightly, gradually rising into a sitting position. Rubbing his eyes, he yawned and stretched, as if he had merely been asleep and _not_ been fighting for his life.

"Wha-? Dammit, you scared me!" Yato growled, before a grin appeared on his face as he sprang towards Yukine, embracing him in a tight hug. The blonde was slightly startled by the sudden sign of affection, before he lifted his arms up to wrap them around the other man.

"And you've been scaring the hell out of me for the past few days, you know. I was so worried when we found you half-dead in the forest!" Yato broke the hug, placing both hands on Yukine's shoulders as he spoke with a serious expression on his face.

"I wouldn't say I was 'half-dead'." Yukine grumbled.

"Well, I would. And Hiyori. Not to mention that at first, I thought you _actually_ were-" He cut himself off before he finished the sentence. Just as Yukine was about to ask what he was about to say, a loud rumble cut them off. The source happened to be Yukine's stomach.

Yato's smile returned. "I take it someone's hungry."

Yukine blushed slightly, before turning his head away. "Whatever."

"You wait here; I'll go bring you something to eat." Yato stood up, much to the complaint of Yukine.

"Hey! I can walk; I'm not weak!"

"I don't want you overexerting yourself."

"By overexerting myse- how dare you! I am _not_ weak!"

"Shush. Save your strength; don't waste it in a pointless argument. Stay, and I will get you food."

Grumbling something inaudible, Yukine stayed put, and Yato left the room.

Once he was out of sight of Yukine, Yato let a couple of tears run down his face. _I'm just glad you're alright now, Yukine. Thank the Gods._

He quickly wiped his eyes as he headed into the kitchen, preparing some light food to take to his Regalia, who had come so close to death that it scared him. But that was over now. He'd recovered, and the person who had harmed him had been taught a lesson.

After all, if any of them were harmed – Yukine, Hiyori, Kofuku and Daikoku – then Yato would find those responsible, and make sure they _never_ did it again. After all, a family looks out for one another.

And even though Yato never voiced it aloud, he believed it with the bottom of his heart.

 _They were a happy family, and would always look out for one another._

* * *

 **A/N: ...The End.**

 **It's not a long chapter, but I didn't want a long chapter.**

 **I thank all of you who reviewed, favourited, followed and read this. I didn't think I'd get much response from this, but I've got quite a lot, so thank you all~**

 **I'm not going to get all sappy about this, so I'll just say bye and if you want, feel free to read my other stories~**


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